The first time Dean Winchester kissed Piper Finley, she ran away.

He watched her retreat up the stairs and into her room. His whole body felt like it was on fire, and were his lips actually tingling? He thought yes.

He slowly made his way to the couch, where he sat back down. His mind wouldn't stop replaying her softness pressed against him, her little gasps, the way she tasted…

He wasn't even surprised when his father came down the stairs and sat down next to him. John seemed to have a knack for knowing when Dean was feeling all right, and coming around to ruin it.

Feeling bad for the traitorous thought, Dean looked at his father. John considered Dean closely. "Son, you know what a hunter's life is like."

Dean nodded, his heart sinking because he knew what was coming. "Yes, sir."

"And you know Bobby doesn't want Piper involved in it."

"Yes, sir."

John sighed. "I'm not trying to be a dick, son. I'm just trying to make sure no one gets hurt."

Dean swallowed hard. "Yes, sir."

John clapped Dean on the shoulder. "She's a good girl, Dean, I get it. But it's a bad idea."

Dean nodded. "Yes, sir."

John nodded and went back up to bed.

Instead of replaying his time with Piper, Dean's mind spent the night whirling around what his father had said. And what his father had meant.

Piper was a good girl.

Too good for Dean.

xxxxx

Piper felt strangely calm as they approached the warehouse they thought the trickster was in. She suspected that the serenity in and of itself was cause for alarm, because she should have been very scared.

The stake in her jacket felt heavier than it should have been. That's the weight of guilt, Finley, she told herself grimly. She didn't want to kill the trickster. Arguably, she liked the trickster. But if he was going to keep killing people, he was making the issue black and white. No matter how much he liked her, or she liked him, if he was killing people, he had to die.

All she could do was hope he'd hear them out and help them stop the apocalypse.

Dean was frowning as they readied themselves. He looked at Sam. "There was a murder here, and there's no police cars. There's nobody. How's that look to you?"

Sam winced. "Crappy."

Dean nodded and they approached the building. As the door opened, Piper walked into the white bedroom that was so familiar.

She frowned. "This is where the trickster takes me." She looked over to see Dean's reaction, and realized as the door swung shut behind her that she was alone.

There was the fear.

xxxxx

Dean was battling conflicting emotions, and it was giving him a migraine.

Awe was first. They were on the set of Dr. Sexy, MD. He was low-key freaking the hell out, because Dr. Piccolo slapped Sam across the face, and it was about to be placed in the top five moments of Dean's life. He was wearing scrubs and a doctor's coat, as was Sam, and it was all very awe-inducing.

However, anger and fear were quickly overtaking it. Where the fuck was Piper? He was fighting the panic that was trying to come up, but the longer he didn't know where she was, the more irritated he became. He had to keep reminding himself that the trickster had repeatedly said that Piper was the only human he really liked.

She's safe, she's safe, she's safe.

He was still trying to assure himself when Dr. Sexy himself walked down the hall. "Oh boy."

Sam turned to him and frowned. "What?

Awe overtook him again. "It's him."

"Who?"

"It's him, it's Dr. Sexy."

Dr. Palmer approached them, stopping to stand in front of them. He nodded at Dean, who was trying very hard to play it cool. "Doctor."

Dean looked down to hide his grin. "Doctor."

Dr. Palmer looked at Sam. "Doctor."

Sam just stared until Dean whacked him on the arm, then he scowled. "Doctor."

Then Dr. Palmer looked at Dean. "You want to give me one good reason why you defied my direct order to do the experimental face transplant on Mrs. Biehl?"

Dean blinked. He looked at Sam, who was no help, then back to the doctor. "One reason?"

Palmer nodded.

Dean nodded, too. "Sure." He looked down to try to figure out what the hell he was going to say when he saw the doctor's shoes. His white tennis shoes.

Anger coursed through Dean. He slammed the other man against the wall. "You're not Dr. Sexy," he snapped.

The doctor was staring at him. "You're crazy."

Dean sneered. "Really? Because I swore part of what makes Dr. Sexy sexy is the fact that he wears cowboy boots. Not tennis shoes."

Dean saw his younger brother roll his eyes. "Yeah. You're not a fan."

Dean ignored him. "Where the fuck is Piper?"

The doctor blinked. "Who?"

Dean slammed him against the wall again. "No dice, asshole, I know who you are. Where did you take her?"

All of the people in the hallway froze besides Dean, Sam, and the man against the wall. Dean ignored the them, they weren't important.

The doctor morphed into the trickster, who was grinning. "You guys are getting better!"

Dean resisted the urge to beat the bastard to a pulp. "Where is Piper?" He ground out.

The trickster grinned and shook his head. "Not so fast, buddy. Your little girlfriend is fine. You should worry about you."

xxxxx

Piper waited impatiently for the trickster to show himself. She was beyond furious. Where the hell were the Winchesters?

The door behind her opened, and she didn't think twice about rearing back and punching the trickster hard in the face. He did not seem affected, and she felt a bone in her hand break, but she felt a little better. Cradling her injured hand, she glared at him. "Where are Sam and Dean?"

He rubbed his jaw. "Anyone ever tell you that you hit like a man, precious? And that you and Dean are well matched?"

She continued her glare, but faint alarm bells were dinging in the back of her mind at his words. "Where are they?" she demanded again.

He smiled jovially. "Learning a lesson, precious. They're fine."

She nodded. "Good. Take me to them."

He shook his head. "No."

Her eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"

He sighed. "Precious, I like you. I don't want to put you through what they have to go through. You're better than that."

She rolled her eyes. "Please, don't feed me that crap. You're worried I'll figure it out before they do."

He laughed. "Maybe, you are too smart for your own good." He held his hands up. "Just chill here for a while, okay? Your boys will be safe."

She put her hands on her hips. "And who, exactly, are you to be teaching us lessons?"

He just stared at her, then leaned forward to press two fingers against her forehead. As warm healing wrapped around her hand, she gasped in sudden realization.

"Oh. My. God."

He frowned. "What?"

She backed away slowly, holding her hands up. "You're an angel."

His eyebrows raised, and he smiled. "Someone slip a mickey in your power shake, precious? I'm a trickster."

She shook her head, eyes wide. "No, you're an angel. That's why you can heal me. And that's why you can get into my dreams so easily."

He shook his head. "All part of the trickster package."

"No," she said, firm in her belief. "You're an angel. Which one?"

He stared at her. "Piper, I'm not an angel."

She rolled her eyes. "Convincing."

He sighed and turned back toward the door. "Look, precious, I don't know what you think you know, but trust me, I'm not angelic in the least."

xxxxx

She was examining the room for ways to get the hell out of it (she'd never done it before, he'd always knocked her out rather quickly when she was here) when the door opened.

She whirled, her eyes widening when she saw Cass. He looks like shit.

He looked relieved when he laid eyes on her. "Piper."

She rushed over to him, throwing her arms around his neck to hug him tight. "Cass, what did that bastard do to you?"

He hesitated, then crushed her to him. It was strangely comforting. "We need to go."

She leaned back and looked at him. "Cass, who is he?"

He shook his head. "I don't know, but he's an extremely powerful angel. We need to go now."

She nodded. "Do you know where Dean is?"

"No. But once you are safe, I will find him."

She nodded and reached down to thread her fingers through his cold ones. "All right, let's go then."

When he turned to open the door, it was gone. Dread flooded through her. "Shit."

xxxxx

"Okay, stake didn't work. So, what, this is another trick?"

Dean could barely think through his frustration. The stake hadn't killed the damn thing, Cass had been blasted to God knew where, and Dean still didn't know where the hell Piper was.

"I don't know," Sam said, as the car, which was also freaking Dean out. "Maybe the stake didn't work because it's not a trickster?"

Dean frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You heard Cass. He said this thing was too powerful to be a trickster."

Dean thought for a moment. "And did you notice the way he looked at Cass? Almost like he knew him."

"And how pissed he got when you brought up Michael and Lucifer."

"Son of a bitch," Dean growled. "I think I know what we're dealing with."

Dean was really fucking tired of angels messing with his life.

xxxxx

"Maybe you've always been an angel."

Dean watched the ring of fire spring up around the "trickster" dispassionately. Dean was pissed.

The angel looked incredulous, and laughed. "What the hell are you smoking, hombre? A what?"

Dean shrugged. "I'll tell you what. You just jump out of the holy fire and we'll call it our mistake."

The trickster frowned, then clapped. They were back in the warehouse, where they'd started. There was still no sign of Cass or Piper.

Dean frowned. "Where the hell are Cass and Piper?"

The trickster ignored the question. "Where'd I screw up?"

Dean shook his head, so done with angel bullshit he could barely see straight. "No, see, here's the thing. I don't care about whatever deal you got goin' on. I don't care if you hate Daddy and your brothers, I don't care if you hate us. I care about Piper, and I care about Cass. So if you don't tell me where they are, I'm leavin' your ass here forever."

He looked over at Sam, worried that his brother would argue. To his surprise, Sam just crossed his arms and nodded. "Damn right. Where's Piper and Cass?"

The angel rolled his eyes. "Jeeze, a broken record, the two of you."

"Dean!"

Dean turned and caught Piper when she tossed herself into his arms. He held her tight, inhaling her scent, willing himself to calm down. "Hey, kitten, you all right?"

She nodded. "Yeah, you?"

He leaned back and grinned. "Better now."

She smiled then turned to throw herself at Sam, too. Dean watched his younger brother grin and hug her hard. "Glad you're all right, Pipe."

Dean looked over at Cass, who was staring at the angel. "Hello, Gabriel."

Dean blinked. "Gabriel? As in archangel?"

Gabriel nodded. "In the flesh." He turned back to Castiel. "Hey, little bro. How's the search for Daddy going? Let me guess. Awful."

Dean had had enough. "We're out of here. Come on, Sammy, Pipes."

He turned to leave, but Piper did not. She had stepped away from Sam, and was staring at Gabriel with her arms wrapped around her middle. "I want to know why."

Dean frowned. "He wants us to 'play our roles.' He wants us to say yes."

She didn't look away from the archangel, who was looking at her with remorse in his eyes. "Yes, but why do you care?" she asked softly. "You've been, what, in hiding? For millennia? Why do you care now?"

He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

Dean watched as Piper hit an archangel with those big hazel eyes, and wondered if they would work on Gabriel like they'd worked on everyone else so far.

"Will you help us stop it?"

The archangel looked pained, but he shook his head. "You do not know my family. What you guys call the apocalypse, I used to call Sunday dinner. That's why there's no stopping this, because this isn't about a war. It's about two brothers that loved each other and betrayed each other. You'd think your boys would be able to relate."

Sam frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Gabriel looked between Dean and Sam, pointedly ignoring Piper's gaze. "You sorry sons of bitches. Why do you think you two are the vessels? Think about it. Michael, the big brother, loyal to an absent father, and Lucifer, the little brother, rebellious of Daddy's plan. You were born to this, boys. It's your destiny! It was always you! As it is in heaven, so it must be on earth. One brother has to kill the other."

Piper shook her head. "Screw you. No."

The angel was finally looking at her again, and Dean saw real desperation in the pleading in Gabriel's eyes. "Why do you think I've always taken such an interest in them, precious? Because from the moment Dad flipped on the lights around here, we knew it was all gonna end with them. Always."

Piper turned to look away, a hard glint in her eye. "That's not going to happen. You can go fuck yourself, we'll find a way to stop this without you."

Dean found himself actually feeling bad for the archangel when he winced. "Precious, don't-" Gabriel began.

Piper took Dean's hand and looked up at him, her hazel eyes shining. "Can we go home now? I'm tired of angels." She smiled and turned to Castiel. "Except for you, wings."

Dean pressed a kiss to her forehead, relief that she was all right washing through him again. "Yeah, kitten, let's get out of here."

They turned to walk away, and only Dean's hand in hers stopped Piper from walking out when Gabriel spoke.

"You're just gonna, you're gonna leave me here forever?"

Dean turned back. "No. We're not, 'cause we don't fuck with people the way you do. And for the record? This isn't about some prize fight between your brothers or some destiny that can't be stopped. This is about you being too afraid to stand up to your family."

He raised his hand to pull the fire alarm, but Cass's voice stopped him. "Dean, wait."

Dean turned to look at him. Castiel was looking at his brother. "I'll do it. Let me speak to him."

Dean shared a quizzical look with Piper, then looked back at Cass. "All right. Don't take too long."

He walked out with Piper, leaving the angels in the warehouse. When they got to the Impala, he turned her to face him and picked her up , lifting her so she was sitting on the trunk. He settled himself between her legs and buried his face in her neck. "Scared me, kitten."

He felt her smile. "You scared me, too, handsome."

Dean felt the car dip and raised his head to see Sam leaning against the car next to Piper. "No one cares who scared me, huh?" He asked, winking at Piper.

She laughed and leaned over to throw her arms around Sam's neck and place a kiss against his cheek. "I'm glad you're okay, too, Sammy," she said softly. Sam chuckled.

She turned back to Dean and smiled, and he felt his heart get lighter. "I wonder what Cass is saying to him?" he thought out loud.

She nestled closer to him. "I hope he's tearing him a new asshole."

xxxxx

Castiel stared at his big brother, and wondered at the emotions flowing through him. But he didn't have time to worry about them now. He had people to protect. "What is your business with Piper Finley?"

Gabriel blinked, and then grinned. "Got a little crush, Cassie?"

Castiel didn't understand what that meant, so he chose to ignore it. "Do you intend to harm her?"

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "If I wanted to harm her, I would have."

Castiel strode forward, anger taking a front seat. "Gabriel, is Piper Finley safe from you?"

Gabriel sobered. "Of course she is. I mean… Yes. She's safe. I do not intend to harm her."

"Why have you been visiting her dreams?" Castiel was burning with a million questions for his big brother, but Piper Finley's safety was important to him. She was… She was his friend. And he wanted to protect her.

Gabriel sighed. "Because… Because I like her." He smiled. "Always have. Even when Dad was making the plan for this whole showdown, she was always my favorite part."

Castiel frowned. "She… Seems to have that effect, yes."

Gabriel chuckled. "Girl's going to worm her way into heaven just by being nice."

Castiel stared at his brother. "Of course Piper will go to heaven. She is a very good person."

Gabriel chuckled again. "I don't mean it like that. I mean she'll probably be running it a week after she gets there."

xxxxx

Hi everyone! Here's my notes:
I own only Piper Finley, the original character. I don't own Supernatural or the characters. (heartbroken)
Reviews, comments, and kudos give me the warm fuzzies and keep me going.
If there are any mistakes in continuity, canon, or geography, blame me.